Toddlers left in car for 15 plus hours leads to death

Two children are dead after their mother, 19-year-old Amanda Hawkins, intentionally left them in a car for over 15 hours, Kerr County Sheriff's Office said.

The investigation began after Hawkins took her one-year-old and two-year-old daughters to Peterson Regional Medical Center claiming the two had collapsed while at Flat Rock Lake. Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer said when the two children arrived at the medical center they were in "grave condition" and subsequently transferred to University Hospital in San Antonio, Texas.

Kerville Police Department, Texas Rangers, Child Protective Services and the Kerr County Sheriff Office investigated the incident and determined the two daughters were actually left in Hawkins' car for more than 15 hours.

The Sheriff's Office said Hawkins and friends were inside a residence and she intentionally left her children in the car overnight.

The following day when Hawkins discovered her daughters, officials said she tried to bath them and failed to immediately seek care "because she did not want to get in trouble."

Both daughters died on Thursday around 5 p.m. in San Antonio.

"This is by far the most horrific case of child endangerment that I have seen in the 37 years that I have been in Law Enforcement," Sheriff Hierholzer said.

The investigation is still ongoing. Hawkins has been charged with two counts of abandoning or endangering a child. Her bond has been set at $70,000 total.